Robotic Bartender Helps Mix Over 280 Cocktails for Partygoers

Who says that mixology has to be all about flinging cocktail shakers and pompously pairing weird flavors? If the team behind HoLLiE has anything to say about it, the future of ordering a cocktail could look very different.

Earlier this month, a rather adorable robot named HoLLiE became a feature attraction at a busy Berlin party when it successfully helped human bartenders expertly mix almost 300 cocktails for guests. Using its anthropomorphic arms and hands, HoLLiE was able to lay the base to 285 cocktails that would eventually be finished off by its human counterparts. Thanks to its advanced arm and hand design, HoLLiE was able to grip wet cocktail glasses with enough precision that not a single one broke, which is a feat that most inebriated humans would probably struggle to match.

Guests ordered their cocktails via a tablet, which sent the recipes direct to HoLLiE who would then set about collecting a glass and filling it with the necessary levels of ingredients. Once complete, HoLLiE would slide the glass over to its human colleague who would set about putting the finishing touches to the drink. In most instances, the cocktails took just a little more than a minute to make, which would be pretty impressive even for a human mixologist.

HoLLiE was even able to interact with its human colleagues and customers. Phrases such as "Bramble Fizz coming up next!" reassured HoLLiE's customers that their order was being seen to, while the robot was even able to inform the human bartenders when supplies were running low with commands like "Could someone please bring me new glasses?".

So while HoLLiE was more of a test of dexterity than an attempt at taking real mixologist's jobs, this chirpy robot is actually just one of many recent examples of robots being utilized for our imbibing pleasure.

- Royal Caribbean currently employ robotic mixologists on some of their cruise liners:

- MIT have successfully developed every man's dream: The robotic beer fetcher